Sir, – My father, William Mullen, was a very young volunteer with the Free State Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. He participated in the attack on the Four Courts, and the following is his account of it as I remember it.
His regiment was billeted in Wellington Barracks, later renamed Griffith Barracks. In the middle of the night a group of them was wakened by an officer and told to dress. They were put on lorries and proceeded to the Ordnance Survey in the Phoenix Park which, he said was still occupied by British troops. The British brought out howitzers and attached them to the backs of the lorries. They then placed straw on the floors of the lorries on which they carefully placed a number of shells. From the park they drove to Winetavern Street, or perhaps the Brazen Head.
He said that there were gunners brought up from Athlone who, on receiving orders to fire, directed fire at the Four Courts, but without any success. He said that the first attempt flew over the Four Courts and exploded in Arbour Hill, and at the second attempt they knocked a hole in the Liffey wall.
At this stage he claimed that Emmet Dalton took over and the shells began to hit the wall of the Four Courts. He also said that the intention was to create an opening in the wall of the Four Courts which would allow the Free State troops in to engage the irregulars (his word).
With regard to the explosion, he said that he was crawling through the Four Courts Hotel, adjoining the Four Courts, when the explosion occurred. He did not hear it as he was so close, but he was deaf for a couple of days after. He also mentioned that the “Irregulars” when leaving the Four Courts were throwing the rifles into the Liffey until they were ordered to stop.
To conclude on a lighter note, he told me that British soldiers stationed in the Royal Barracks, later Collins Barracks, were allowed to change into civvies by the Four Courts sentries, to enable them to go into town for a few pints. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – In your report (Home News, October 30th) of the shocking assertion that a British soldier fired the first shots of the Civil War is a factual inaccuracy that further distorts our view of Ireland in 1922. Mark Hennessy writes that there was a “June 18th referendum on the Treaty, which the pro-Treaty side won by 239,193 first-preference votes to 133,864 – a result giving Collins democratic legitimacy”. I think Hennessy is referring here to the general election held on June 16th. The pro-Treaty side did not win a referendum. It did, however, emerge as the party with the most seats in the third Dáil ahead of the anti-Treaty side (which refused to take its seats), the Labour Party, Farmers and various independents. It is important to note that far from being a referendum, the 1922 general election saw the return of many candidates who refused to be drawn into the Treaty debate and argued that social and economic issues were more important. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – If Lance Bombardier Percy Creek’s memoir (Home News, October 30th) is to be believed (that the British government supplied expert military personnel in addition to munitions at the bombardment of the Four Courts in 1922), does this not indicate that Irish National Army commander-in-chief general Michael Collins was – however fleetingly – at one stage in command of certain Crown Forces in Ireland? – Yours, etc,